arrange • compose • conduct
Posts discussing creativity, both in and outside of music
I find it helpful to envision a time horizon when I take on a project. Especially for gig- and project-based work, it’s valuable to know how long it’s going to take. An arranging project for a client? Depending on the time of year, I can anticipate first contact to finished […]
You’ll never start. I’ve had a lot of students over the years who knew they were going to accomplish something specific – as soon as they were ready. “I’m going to be a composer, once I’ve taken all the classes to have the skills.” “I’m going to write a book, […]
Aspiring chess masters have to learn established sequences for the beginning portion of chess games – traditionally called openings. (There are hundreds, with names like “The Sicilian Defense.”) Learning these approaches is essential to avoiding blunders in games, and moving on to the more nuanced and wide-open middle game. Creative […]
What are you trying to get better at? What are the stakes you’ll have when you’re good and how can you lower those stakes now? I got good at writing by lowering the stakes. If I had sat down at my computer and said, “I’m going to write an essay […]
Don’t worry, there’ll be another one along any minute. Sometimes I write my post by typing a title, with as little conscious thought as possible. It’s just something I’ve noticed, or feel in that moment. A little pause to think. And then I start to express what I feel about […]
Creativity isn’t a skill. A skill is something that you get better at over time. In my experience, you don’t get better at creativity. You get more versed in accessing it, you get better at recognizing better creative impulses, but you don’t get better at being creative. That’s because creativity […]
The golden rule of improv applies well beyond comedy. The most famous dictum of improv comedy is “Yes, and.” When someone adds something to the scene, you must accept it and work with it as you continue. Only through that open collaboration can you create something all the improvisers share […]
I think there can be a fear that if you go too long without exercising a craft, it disappears. It helps to recognize that that’s not true. I haven’t written any new music recently. While I think of writing music as the core of my professional work, there are seasons […]
You have to turn off the infinite tap. Media is effectively infinite now. The media (film, tv, music, podcasts, books & articles, social, etc.) that is inside your niche is vast enough that you need never stop consuming it. But. If you don’t turn it off, you can’t make your […]
We think of creativity as something rare. It isn’t. Creativity is the default setting for every five-year-old. Just listen to them tell a joke. Five-year-olds learn the form of a joke and then immediately get creative in variations – some funny, some not. They are not self-critical as they play […]